Opinion

Many dark nights ago, my friend Walt Carpenter tricked me into riding the Rock-O Planes with him at the Shelby County Fair.

You may recall this ride, in its day the most adventurous on the midway and hidden down in the dark northeast corner, just around from the blare and glare of those infamous hoochie-coochie shows, and cattycornered to the Octopus.

We could not be happier that the Netherys, longtime Shelby County residents, have received state incentives and are planning to open the first distillery in Shelby County, at least the first legal distillery.

The Shelby County Fiscal Court, Triple S Planning Commission and all of those working behind the scenes should be commended for identifying, responding to and solving an issue quickly and efficiently.

As pointed out before, our family does not meet the standards in terms of income or accumulated wealth to be considered wealthy. If we did we’d probably move our legal residence to Florida, Tennessee or some of the other state who have no state income tax or death taxes (the most obscene tax of all).

People who have read The Sentinel-News through the years are familiar with names of the editors, reporters and photographers. However, there are lots of people behind the scenes who have helped bring you reports about our community: those who work in management, those who sell ads, those who handle composition, those who oversee subscriptions… I know, because I called The Sentinel-News “home” for 27 years.

Amid breaking news Monday that included suspects in an unusual murder case in Nelson County and Toyota pulling 1,500 jobs out of Northern Kentucky came the announcement that the Bluegrass Pipeline was ceasing work.

We must say this came as a big surprise to us. Although Shelby County was on the extreme edge of the 180-mile route, we were interested in how the pipeline would take its Natural Gas Liquids from Pennsylvania through 180 miles of our commonwealth on its way to the Gulf.

But now it appears that the project is dead, at least for the time being.

I have not had a forum to tell you my thoughts since my time on the Sports Desk many years ago, but it’s nice to have this opportunity again. Although depending on who you ask, my thoughts may not run that deep.

As many of you may know by now, I took over as Editor of The Sentinel-News a little more than one month ago, and it’s been interesting to say the least.

We’ve been back and forth on the curbside garbage issue for what seems like a decade. We’ve talked about it, you’ve talked about it and your elected officials have talked about it, but we continue to wait and nothing is getting done.

Really, though, the whole thing is pretty simple: Can government provide a better service than what residents have now?

Not just cheaper – although that’s a big, big part of it – but better for everyone.

This past month, following a harsh winter that chilled donations by 7 percent statewide, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky launched a “March Gladness” campaign and the Shelbyville community really responded.

We are pleased to report that donations increased by 9 percent during the month of March!

The drug cartels are laughing at us as we keep drugs illegal to insure their profits stay high to fuel our enemies in our own hemisphere toward the destruction of our own country. Usually by our own police and greedy officials who are rapidly destroying our U.S. Constitution with compete impunity.

While we are certainly glad to hear that Corpus Christi has raised enough money and will remain open, we wonder why our local private schools have struggled to maintain a vibrant and strong population in recent years.

Our churches never seem to struggle for members or volunteers, and our community has always had a strong attachment to its faith.

But it seems as though many students in our county are sent west to Louisville parochial schools, but why?

What would make a parent travel 30 miles or more for a high school education?

Last week the Simpsonville City Commission did something that very few governments consider – they chose to lower taxes.

The 10.2 percent decrease in property taxes will be a welcome reprieve for residents, but we really commend the commissioners for their progressive outlook.

Recognizing the commercial growth that is coming their way, the commission realized the windfall in taxes they were about to receive. And instead of instantly looking to see where that money would best be spent they took a minute to see how it could best be used.

Such a simple decree, but if everyone followed it could you imagine what a wonderful world we would live in?

That’s why we just can’t understand the Shelbyville City Council’s refusal to act on or even publicly discuss the request for a Fairness Ordinance from the Shelby County chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

Does the NCAA have an axe to grind with the state of Kentucky? It sure looks that way.

Not only were our beloved Cardinals and Wildcats relegated to much lower seeds than they both deserved, but now the NCAA has decided to ruin a week of productivity in offices from Paducah to Pikeville – as the coach wearing the blue tie might say.

The two now will meet in the Sweet 16 late Friday night in Indianapolis, the second time in three years they’ve met in the NCAA tournament.

As CVS drugstores move to remove cigarettes from their shelves this fall, we think it’s time for our city and county officials to start thinking the same way.

CVS officials cited a moral responsibility for making the change.

“Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS pharmacy is the right thing to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health,” said Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Caremark.

Here in ACC country, the sun is fading behind the oncoming threat of snow showers. There are tears and fear, loathing in the gloaming. Tobacco Road has rolled up its reputation and burned its hopes in the NCAA Tournament, leaving this as what ACC fans say to a Kentuckian these days:

Louisville will be in the ACC next year.

Yes, the Cardinals will, and perhaps the ACC would like to claim them right now, but not so fast, my friend.

Bless their hearts, but Shelby County Fiscal Court is trying.
Those magistrates want to do the right thing and provide garbage service and recycling for you, and even if they couldn’t get together and head off a way to keep your money from being thrown away on a $3.2 million trash mahal, they feel like they have to do something.

Sunday kicked off Sunshine Week, and no that wasn’t a cruel twist of fate played by Mother Nature.

This Sunshine Week has less to do with the impending first day of Spring – which is Thursday, by the way – and more to do with keeping the sunshine in your life.

Started by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and later adopted by the American Society of news Editors, Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote the importance of open government and freedom of information.